Meetings held on Shannon basin flooding

Offaly TD Marcella Corcoran-Kennedy has attended a series of top-level meetings to highlight the severe flooding problems experienced by people living along the Shannon river basin in West Offaly. In an effort to highlight the flooding problems in the area, Deputy Corcoran-Kennedy attended a meeting with Minister for State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Brian Hayes and the IFA's Michael Silke. The Minister for State and representatives of the IFA accompanied Deputy Corcoran-Kennedy on a fact-finding mission on the Shannon river in May to assess the impact of the flooding. They also went out on the Shannon to see what action could be taken to alleviate the flooding on farmlands in the area. As a result of that initial meeting, Deputy Corcoran-Kennedy attended a follow-up meeting in Dublin with Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs Jimmy Deenihan, Minister for State Brian Hayes, the Assistant Director of the National Parks and Wildlife Service and a Senior Officer from the Office of Public Works. This was the first joint meeting with representatives from the OPW and the National Parks and Wildlife Service on the flooding issue. The specific issues raised by Deputy Corcoran-Kennedy at that meeting included some pruning of the alluvial woodland at Maddens Island and other locations along the Shannon. She also stressed the importance of clearing the vegetation and expressed the hope that there would be approval for works on an area known as "The Cut". A further meeting has been arranged for the end of June with Minister Deenihan, Minister for State Hayes, and the representatives from the OPW and the Parks and Wildlife Service to assess progress and formulate an action plan.